2008: #68 – Dead Witness (Joylene Nowell Butler)

Book #68 was Dead Witness by Joylene Nowell Butler.  The back of the book reads:

Canadian Valerie McCormick wins a trip to Seattle, but her joy is shattered when she witnesses two FBI agents murdered by Latin drug lord, Miquel DeOlmos. The small town wife and mother is asked to testify, and with courage and determination, she faces the murderer in court. That’s when things go from bad to worse. Her supposed safety is shattered when DeOlmos discovers her identity, escapes custody, and sends killers to Prince George to silence her. Even though the FBI assigns agent Michael Canaday to protect Valerie with good intentions, his efforts to save her life destroy it by separating her from everyone she loves. When Valerie sacrifices everything but can’t guarantee her children’s safety, she takes matters into her own hands and hunts the hunter, digging deep to summon courage she never knew she possessed.

This was pretty good! Really, much better than I expected, as it’s the first book I’ve read published by Lulu.com. It took me a while to warm up to Valerie and get into the story, but by the time she went to Mexico I was hooked! I didn’t like her husband, Ed, from the start, and was pleased to see him get his just desserts. Canaday is an interesting character, and I found the relationship between him and Valerie to be intriguing. My one complaint is that I didn’t feel like I connected to him enough.  You know he’s the big bad Candyman, but sometimes he feels like just a rock in the corner.  You also never really get the full story about Valerie’s parents… maybe this is explained in a novel to come?  Overall, this was an enjoyable read.

Page count: 282 | Approximate word count: 84,600

2007: Plum Island (Nelson DeMille)
2006: Letters From An Age of Reason (Nora Hague)
2005: Therapy (Jonathan Kellerman)